the staircase restoration

While we painted and redid much of the living room when we moved into the house almost a year ago, the stairwell has remained untouched aside from removing some old carpet from the previous owners. Underneath the carpet, much to our frustration, is a layer of dried glue covering the gorgeous old wooden steps.

We’ve had a couple house projects that needed to come before the staircase like building deck railings and finishing a bedroom (both projects I plan to share in future posts). Now that we are headed into spring, I feel motivated to complete some of the less intense projects that have been on the backburner, this staircase being one of them! We plan to patch, sand, and paint the walls in the stairwell and upstairs hallway, match the missing trim at the bottom of the stairs, and hopefully remove the old glue to reveal more of the beautiful old wood that made us fall in love with the house. So here is our plan…

Step 1: patch and sand the walls

I have been doing this slowly overtime, patching holes and cracks in the wall while I had the spackle out for other projects. The previous owners had also filled some holes and cracks in the wall, so I just need to sand everything smooth.

Step 2: paint the walls

We’ve had all the wood trim taped off for a while now, so once all of the sanding and cleanup is complete we can finish painting the walls. We will be using the same color that you see in the rest of the living room, Valspar’s Cream Delight. I love this shade, as it gives the room a nice, clean feeling without being too harsh, and it really lets the wood trim and stained glass be the stars of the show!

Step 3: remove the old glue

We are first going to test a patch of the stairs with an indoor-safe adhesive remover. I have been battling layers of old paint on the wood trim in many of the rooms upstairs with paint strippers, so I am hoping for better luck removing this glue.

Step 4: stain and seal the stairs as needed

I am hoping that the adhesive remover will work in removing the glue without causing too much damage to the wood and original varnish. However, we have been fortunate to find a stain that matches our wood trim perfectly! The Minwax Early American stain provides the perfect color match, so if we need to stain the stairs we have at least already found a color we love.

I will keep you all updated as we get through these projects. Wish us luck!

-Mae